May was another busy month for me, but I was grateful that my travel schedule settled down a bit and I got to enjoy my Fridays off at home. The roller coaster pattern of 2023 continued with some decent progress on my monthly goals compared to April. Along with a goals update, my May 2023 roundup includes five posts from some excellent bloggers, including a couple of new faces.
Read on for posts on starting a new business at 63 years old, letting go of the fear of looking stupid, pre-summer decluttering, coping when life all feels a bit much, and changing age perceptions. Happy reading!
Cool things I read in May
Since publishing my first monthly roundup at the end of 2020, it has been an honour to introduce you to some of my favourite bloggers. I started the roundup to say thank you to the blogging community and bring attention to talented writers who create funny, inspiring, and informative content.
Here are 5 pieces that caught my eye in May.
How to start a new business at 63 years old – The Kitchen’s Garden
Ageism is the last acceptable form of discrimination. So many myths and perceptions about older people are simply untrue. That’s why I had to share this post from Cecilia about starting a business in your 60s. We need to stamp out ageism and share stories like this one.
There is a whole ageist movement out there – trying to sit the grey-hairs down and encourage them out of the job market and into their rocking chairs.
The Kitchen’s Garden – How to start a new business at 63 years old
Your fear of looking stupid may be holding you back – Stuart Danker
In his usual thoughtful and humorous style, Stuart’s post reminds us of the pitfalls of perfectionism and the value in taking a risk and putting yourself out there.
I think the biggest area we get hung up on is thinking that everything we do or say has to be the most enlightening piece of wisdom known to man.
Stuart Danker – Your fear of looking stupid may be holding you back
20 items to declutter to prepare for summer – Mind Beauty Simplicity
If you need some decluttering ideas, check out the list in Bee’s post. It inspired me to get rid of a few items.
20 items to declutter to prepare for summer
How to cope when it’s all a bit much – Smelly Socks and Garden Peas
Sometimes life gets way too busy. In this helpful post, Smell shares some tips that are helping her and her family cope with a hectic time in their lives.
See what I just said? You don’t have to do it all. You don’t need to have it all. Less is OK.
Smelly Socks and Garden Peas – How to cope when it’s all a bit much
Useful at any age – Surprised By Joy
In this thought-provoking piece on how we spend our lives wanting to be older or younger, Wynne considers how our age perceptions change throughout our lifetimes.
May we all feel useful, at whatever age we believe ourselves to be.
Surprised By Joy – Useful at any age
What I wrote in May
In case you missed any of these, here are the new posts I published in May here on Boomer Eco Crusader.
- When progress isn’t progress – Let’s look back to move forward – A Climate Change Collective post
- The Sunday Spark – A reminder to be kind
- The Sunday Spark – Life’s full of beginnings and endings
- Simple space saving tips for smaller homes
- The Sunday Spark – Surviving the teenage years. I did it!
- The wonderful world of waste management
- The Sunday Spark – Celebrating 50 years in Canada
- Hidden joys and benefits of sustainable living
In addition to my new posts, I also refreshed and republished this older post:
Let’s keep in touch! Join my mailing list and I’ll email you when I add a new post.
May goals – How did I do?
As I shared last month, I seem to be on a bit of a roller coaster so far in 2023 with a good month, followed by a bad month, followed by a good month, and so on. The pattern continued this month. After a dip in April, things picked up in May and I ended up with a fairly decent month. Here’s how I did on my goals for the month.
Fitness goals
The weather rebounded a little in May after a cold, rainy April. That helped me get my step count up. I exceeded my goal of 10,000 steps a day with an average of 10,540. Plus, I crushed my goal of 20 outdoor walks with a total of 31.
Cut the candy
After giving up Candy for Lent, I fell off the wagon after Easter in April. Although I did a little better in May, I fell far short of my goal of limiting candy and chocolate to once a day. In fact, I stopped keeping track because there really was no point. There’s always next month, right?
Read three books
May was another good month with three books read:
- The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
- Breaking The Age Code by Becca Levy
- Our Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha
Writing
In addition to my regular blog posts, I had a couple of accomplishments on the writing front.
- The article I’m writing for an industry publication is written and ready for final edits and polishing.
- I published my first article for our global editorial contributor program at work.
Eight hours of learning
I did it—ending the month with exactly eight hours.
My June goals
Will June be the month I reverse the roller coaster trend and string together two good months in a row? I’m feeling pretty positive about the prospects. Here are the goals I’ve set for June.
- Fitness goals: With no travel plans in June, I plan to get back on track with my goal of working out at least 150 minutes every week. And I’m increasing my outdoor walking goal to 30 walks for the month.
- Decluttering: I haven’t set a decluttering goal in a few months so it’s time to get back at it. I’ve set a goal of 150 items for June, inspired by this post from Maximum Gratitude Minimal Stuff. Can I remove at least one thing from five areas of my home every day in June? Watch for an update in July.
- Reading: I’ve hit my reading goal every month so far in 2023, but I’m not ready to increase that goal so I’m sticking with three.
- Writing: I’ll be travelling in July, so I need to get ahead on blog posts. Other than the weekly Sunday Spark posts, my goal is to schedule all my regular posts for July by the end of June.
- Cut the candy: Okay, I’m serious now. I gave up candy completely during Lent so I know I can do it. Once again, I’m setting a goal of limiting candy to once a day.
Thanks for dropping by to check out my monthly roundup. I hope your June is off to a great start.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of the posts I’ve shared. Tell me what you think below.
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Aww, am honoured to be in your roundup, Michelle! Also appreciate being in your tweets. It can feel like writing for the void most times, so it’s awesome to hear your thoughts on the posts. Also, am rooting for your candy cutting! I myself have major problems with carbs, like I’ve mentioned in previous posts, and that sometimes easily turn into binge eating junk. Pastry, for one, with all the ‘bad’ ingredients used for baking. Push on!
My pleasure Stuart. As I’ve commented before, I always enjoy reading your posts. Yes, the carbs are a killer (she says as she pauses to stuff a Cadbury Mini Egg in her mouth LOL). I found giving up alcohol so much easier than cutting back on sugar.
I love the post “How to start a new business at 63 years old”. This is the age I should retire, and I have always thought about starting a business. Thank you for the suggestion!
Thanks Cristiana. Yes, lots of people choose to start new adventures after they “retire”. I’ll probably do the same.
What a great round-up of interesting posts and inspiration. Thank you so much for including me, Michelle! And I need to cut the candy to so thanks for that inspiration. Here’s to a great June!
My pleasure, Wynne. I’m on a bit of an anti-ageism rally at the moment so your post really spoke to me.
thanks for the mention Michelle! glad the post gave you decluttering inspiration. 👏🏻 Love reading your roundup posts and discovering new posts to read.
My pleasure, Bee. Happy reading!
Your May Roundup is full of impressive accomplishments and wonderful links! I love the dedication to specific ‘learning hours’ to keep track of stretching yourself. What a wonderful goal. And of course, good luck with the candy goal as “Sustainably” said above. That’s a tricky one…those sugar demons. 😉
Thank you Vicki! I’m a bit of a learning junkie but I was getting lazy so needed to remind myself. Yes, sugar is difficult for me but June is off to a decent start. Now I just need to keep it up.
Cheering you on as I eat my zero-sugar yogurt! 😎😋😎
This is such a great variety of posts for your round up!
I’m rooting for you for June your goals and for your cutting out candy!
Thank you!
So far, June is off to a pretty good start on the candy front…but it’s really hard. LOL
Have you tried a good brand of sugar-free candy? That’s what I try to stick with, or very low sugar, like some gummy types are. Russell Stover makes look alike candy bar minis, like Mounds, Snickers, Heath Bars, and more, sweetened with Stevia!!
I haven’t tried sugar-free candy because many of them contain artificial or chemical sweeteners which I try to avoid. I’m a bit leery of Stevia because the plant is natural but many of the commercial Stevia sweeteners aren’t.
I use it in everything-it can’t be as bad as Equal and all those horrible fake sweeteners!
This is an interesting read: https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/stevia-side-effects